Hard school choices ahead

BRIDGEWATER — The South Shore regional school board says it needs to take a critical look at educational programming offered in its schools as it looks at potential closures.

Six schools are under review in the region and board members are just beginning to assess the reports on each of them carried out by consultant Deloitte Inc.

“It seems to me if we want to provide good educational opportunities well into the future, we want to look at the sustainability of our programs,” member Elmer Garber said at the board’s Wednesday evening meeting of committee of the whole.

“As funding decreases, obviously we can’t sustain a lot of the programs we have, but I don’t hear that conversation taking place.”

“It is, I think, a real need,” agreed board member Theresa Griffin.

She said educational programming needs to be a key component of the continuing school review process.

“It needs to be a priority of ours if we’re thinking in terms of what’s the best possible education we can provide to the kids in the system,” she said.

“I absolutely agree,” said board superintendent Nancy Pynch-Worthylake. She said the board will have a “deep conversation” about educational programs in the coming weeks.

Operations director Steve Prest told board members they also need to keep in mind how much it costs to maintain schools.

He said the board has cut what it spends on maintaining its 33 buildings in favour of preserving classroom programming.

“We’ve focused on teachers in the classroom and we’ve reduced maintenance, it’s as simple as that,” he said.

Prest said the board has consistently spent less than it should on maintaining its $120 million worth of buildings. Industry standard calls for one to three per cent of the budget to be spent on maintaining the board’s 33 buildings, but spending has averaged .74 per cent in the past three years, he said.

He recommended the board increase that to .88 per cent, or another $330,000. If not, “it’ll catch up with us after a while,” he said.

Because the meeting was for committee of the whole, board chairwoman Jennifer Naugler said no final decisions would be made or motions passed.

The school review process began last March and is drawing added attention because the previous attempt to review schools was, in part, why the former board was fired.

Deloitte Inc. released a damning audit of the former South Shore board in November 2011, raising concerns over some members’ handling of the school review process.

The board itself called for the audit after it unexpectedly halted its school review process in March 2011.

“Effectively, no public debate was ever held,” the Deloitte report said.

It said that happened because two members inappropriately rallied their communities against the school review process and lobbied other board members to put a halt to it.

The report led Education Minister Ramona Jennex to fire all the board members and appoint Judith Sullivan-Corney to run the board alone until last October’s election, when residents elected the current eight-member board, downsized from 12.

The board will hold public meetings at each of the six schools before any closure decisions are made. The hearings will run from Feb. 12 to 26 and details are on the board’s website, ssrsb.ca.